


The Circle of Life

by plasticpumpkins



Category: Chronicle (2012)
Genre: An annoyed angel, Andrew is a smirking ass but we all still love him, Andrew's a Disney film fanatic apparently, But you can forgive him, Disney Songs, Established Relationship, Matt is sleep deprived and sad and angry, Other, Steve is decidedly unopinionated because he loves his bf, The Trio being idiots, There's no actual fighting, There's slight violence in this that I hope you'll look over, Vague mentions of The Lion King, but Matt does do something, dumb arguments, only verbal discussion, out of deprivation and agony, slightly OOC, steve is an angel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 15:59:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7720885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plasticpumpkins/pseuds/plasticpumpkins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt took a step forward, leaving little to no space between them. They were both horribly stubborn, Steve knew, but someone would have to break soon, right? Steve turned out to be very, very wrong. ‘’My high thoughts aren’t nearly as bad as your fucking Disney channel marathons!’’ Matt growled, fists curling and frown deepening. </p>
<p>Steve sighed, ‘’Come on, guys, this is ridiculous….’’</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Circle of Life

Andrew Detmer sat quietly inside of his bedroom, locked away from the rest of the world. It was the middle of the night, void of human life and movement other than his own, which barely counted at all. He was tucked against the headboard of his bed, shrouded in mismatched sheets to protect him from the biting cold of his vacant home. 

The only light in the room came from the television, which was on its lowest volume and had brightly colored cartoons slipping across its screen. Despite the silence, Andrew still heard the music coming from the movie he watched. It was a Disney film, The Lion King, and it happened to be one of his favorites; though, you’d never get him to admit that out loud. It was a guilty pleasure of some kind, it reminded him of childhood. 

The downfall to watching this movie, however, was the endless parade of songs that stuck in his head. They were exuberant and quickly-paced, which didn’t match Andrew’s tired exterior at all. That didn’t stop them from getting lodged in his head and staying with him for a number of days, weeks even. It was a small price to pay to get the slightest taste of childhood glory back, according to Andrew himself, in his head. 

Matt and Steve, however, would disagree. You see, one of the problems with being mentally connected is the fact that every subconscious thought is unintentionally transferred to each individual attached. So, Andrew watching The Lion King and getting ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’ stuck in his head meant that both Matt and Steve suffered the same fate. That also caused Matt to call aforementioned boy in the middle of the night and complain endlessly. 

Despite the muttered apologies and understandings, the song still ended up in all of their heads the next day without the slightest warning. 

It started in Matt’s history class with him whispering the lyrics while jotting down answers on his exam. Then it continued to Andrew’s dreaded P.E. class with him hidden behind the ball carts while humming the tune. Finally, it ended during Steve’s campaign assignment while he carefully explained his anticipated duties and accidentally mixed up his planned speech with various lyrics. 

This is exactly how Andrew, Steve, and Matt all ended up arguing in a public parking lot about The Lion King and Andrew’s weird obsession with it. 

‘’It’s keeping me up at night! This was totally avoidable!’’ Matt griped, shoving his hands in his pockets to keep from waving them around violently. He wouldn’t usually be so upset, but he had a feeling he failed his history test and felt it was only natural to blame that on Andrew and his Disney movie habits. 

Steve was oddly silent, eyeing both of them with an unreadable expression. Frankly, it made Andrew quite anxious to have Steve be so unopinionated. You would think Matt’s near yelling would stir the anxiety, but it did nothing because Andrew was not sorry in the slightest. He stepped forward, glaring at Matt without hesitancy. 

‘’I didn’t say anything when you got high and put a month’s worth of shitposts in the back of my mind!’’ Andrew retorted, dangerously close to Matt now. Steve shifted uncertainly between them both, his usual charm lost at the sight of his best friends quarreling pathetically. He took a deep breath when Matt squinted tiredly at Andrew’s argument, apparently silenced. Though it didn’t last very long. 

Matt took a step forward, leaving little to no space between them. They were both horribly stubborn, Steve knew, but someone would have to break soon, right? Steve turned out to be very, very wrong. ‘’My high thoughts aren’t nearly as bad as your fucking Disney channel marathons!’’ Matt growled, fists curling and frown deepening. 

Steve sighed, ‘’Come on, guys, this is ridiculous….’’ 

Both Andrew and Matt looked over to Steve, practically fuming with irrational anger. The sky above them was swirling with color and light, though nightfall wasn’t far from swallowing the sound of day. Steve found this entire situation to be ridiculous because really, are Disney songs and marijuana-induced pondering worth enough to fight over? 

When Matt took Andrew’s distraction as an incentive, Steve found that the answer was yes. There was a split second where Matt’s fist threatened to meet Andrew’s freckled cheek, but the seemingly constant shield Andrew wore met the blunt of the punch. 

‘’What the fuck, Matt!’’ Andrew whined, on the verge of hilarity and destruction. Matt looked embarrassed for having missed his target, and so the tension fell in waves, drowning them all in irrationality and disposition. ‘’I can’t believe you!’’ 

Steve slumped forward, facepalming with his right hand. He was entirely done. ‘’I can’t believe you tried to hit ‘Drew over a Disney song,’’ Steve grumbled, voice muffled in his hand. The sun was now hanging low, leaving them alone with flickering lamp posts and unresolved tension. Matt shoved his hands back into his pockets, exhaling pointedly out of his nose. Steve almost had the urge to laugh at how ridiculous this was. 

‘’Look, I pretty much flunked my history test because Andrew had to go all Circle of Life on us!’’ Matt explained, his breathing uneven and stressed. 

Andrew had a deep frown on his face but kept quiet. The silence that followed Matt’s explanation was both deafening and painfully uneventful. Steve waited for an apology from both sides and ended up shorthanded for the second time that day. They all stared at each other, all assuming they were on the right side of the wrong story. 

Steve was the first one to break the silence, ‘’Was that a good enough reason to hit Andrew?’’ 

For the first time that day, Matt looked ashamed. ‘’No.’’ 

Andrew sniffed and crossed his arms, looking down at the cement instead of Matt. A sharp breeze whirled past them, cutting and harsh against exposed skin. It was late Autumn, but Andrew still didn’t feel the weather warranted a jacket. It irked Steve, who had loaned his jacket out more days this year than he hadn’t. Matt turned his back on the wind and sighed, ‘’I’m sorry, Andrew.’’ 

There was another small silence where Steve shrugged his jacket off and held it out to his friend without question. Andrew slipped his arms into the sleeves, it was far too big for him but he buttoned it anyways, finally shielded from the cold. 

He had a curious look in his eyes, and Steve found that he should be more unforgiving, but he wasn’t. ‘’It’s alright, dude, it’s the circle of life,’’ Andrew said casually, lifting his head to meet Matt’s gaze. Steve took a quick breath inward and resisted the urge to groan out loud. Matt’s left eye twitched and it looked as if it took an inhumane amount of self-control for him not to lurch forward and strangle Andrew right then and there. 

‘’I’m going home,’’ Matt groused decidedly, turning around to hobble to his car. 

Andrew grinned, calling out to him. ‘’Come on, Matt!! What about Hakuna Matata?’’ 

Matt yanked open his car door, sliding into the driver’s seat without even looking up in acknowledgment. Steve noted the crushed cans of soda crammed on his dashboard and random scraps of paper, he wondered when they all became such giant messes. ‘’You’re my ride home, dude!’’ Andrew yelled, trying to wave him down before he left. 

Through the open window of his car, Matt replied, ‘’Get Simba to drive you home!’’ 

Steve rolled his eyes. ‘’I’ll drive you home, ‘Drew, let him go.’’ 

Andrew looked over to Steve with a tired smirk on his face, ‘’Okay.’’ 

‘’You really shouldn’t tease him when he’s sleep deprived,’’ Steve said as they turned to walk to Steve’s car, leaving Matt behind to drive off. 

Andrew laughs slightly, nodding his head. ‘’I know, but he loves me, it’s okay.’’ 

Steve only hummed in response, unlocking the doors so they could both get in the car and leave the Hobby Lobby parking lot. It had been a long day. He had his qualms with Andrew’s Disney habit, too, but he could never get mad at Andrew. 

At least not with a clear conscious. Even then, he understood where Matt was coming from. It was startling to see Matt break character when he had been rightfully composed every other time Andrew slipped up, but hey, we all lose it sometimes. 

‘’Instead of going home, wanna come to my house and watch a movie?’’ Steve asked, putting the recent scene from his mind. 

Andrew buckled his seatbelt and glanced over to Steve with a smile on his face, ‘’Yeah, can we watch The Lion King?’’ 

Steve resisted the urge to cry swiftly. He plastered a smile on his face, ‘’Of course, Drew, of course.’’ 

‘’You’re too nice to me,’’ Andrew commented as Steve inserted the key into the ignition. The engine started with a smooth growl, thrumming comfortingly below them. 

Steve shrugged, adjusting his seat belt. ‘’You deserve it.’’ 

Andrew stuck his tongue out at Steve, though the other boy didn’t seem to notice, too transfixed on making sure his shirt didn’t bunch under his belt. They drove out of the parking lot without incident. Matt called later that night to apologize again, but hung up when he heard the ending credits of the movie playing. All was okay in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on an idea that Andrew, Steve, and Matt have a connected subconscious and suffer every time one of them has a fleeting thought or gets a song stuck in their head. I would like to say that it's very unlikely that Matt would attempt to hit Andrew in a situation this casual, but the scenario has been exaggerated slightly for laughs. (Matt is a sweet egg baby, I don't think he's mean or anything)
> 
> No Andrew Detmer's were harmed during the writing of this story.


End file.
